________________
THE AUTHOR AND THE COMMENTATOR : VIDYANUSASANA
301
ANA
kumāra Kavya is a small poetical works in 5 cantos containing 507 verses. His fame however, rests on his Mántric works which apear to be mines of rare information on a cult which has always been very secretive and jealous of any information passing beyond its esoteric circle of adepts and initiates. Besides Sri Bhairava Padmavati Kalpa his Mantric works are Bhārati alias Sarasvati-Kalpa, Jwālinikalpa and Kāmacāndālini alias Siddhāyikā Kalpa.
VIDYĀNUSÅSANA Vidyānusāsana, a great compendium of Māntric treatises comprised in twenty four chapters containing nearly 7000 verses, is also ascribed to him. Probably, it is edited and enlarged by him. The text as now available contains several later additions and interpolations of Pandita Asādhara's and Hastimalla's Ganadharavalayas, Ašādhara's Sarasvatistotra, and Rāvana's Bālagraha Cikitsā and quotations from Imadi Bhattopadhyāya's Gānabhrd-Yantra-Pūjā-Vidhāna and Mahasena's Trivarṇācāra. On a consideration of the opening verses 1 and 2 and the verse 139 of the colophon which allude to Matisāgara we are inclined to believe that the author of at least the original nucleus was one named Matisāgara. The work contains a hymn of Sri Pārsvanātha and large extracts from Jwālāmalini Kalpa both by Sri Indranandi of Dravida Sangha who was the pupil of Vappanandi and a grand-pupil of Vasavanandi and a famous Māntrika who flourished circa Saka 861 i. e. 996 of Vikrama era which is the date of his Jwālinikalpa. It must be therefore Matisāgara who, iss is stated ni the beginning of the work, extracted from and summarised ancient Māntric works of different authors, * and he must have flourished subse
तेषु विद्यानुवादाख्यो य: पूर्वो दशमो महान् । मंत्रयन्त्रादिविषयः प्रथितो विदुषां मतः ॥९॥ तस्यांशा एव कतिचित् पूर्वाचार्येरनेकधा । स्वां स्वां कृति समालंव्य कृताः परहितैषिभिः ॥१०॥ उदत्य विप्रकीर्णभ्यस्तेभ्यः सारं विरच्यते । ऐदंयुगीनानुद्दिश्य मंदान् विद्यानुशासनम् ॥ ११ ॥
Jain Education International 2010_03
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
